California jury finds Uber negligent but not liable in sexual assault case

Edited by: Top Class Actions | October 8, 2025

Category: Legal News

(Photo Credit: Poetra.RH/Shutterstock)

Uber sexual assault bellwether trial overview:

Who: A California jury has reached a verdict in the bellwether trial against rideshare company Uber.
Why: The plaintiff claims Uber failed to protect her from being sexually assaulted during a ride to the airport in 2016.
Where: The bellwether trial took place in San Francisco Superior Court, California.
How to get help: If you were sexually assaulted by an Uber or Lyft driver, legal help is available. Get a free and confidential case review.

A California jury has found Uber negligent in how it handled passenger safety but determined the company is not liable for damages in a landmark bellwether trial involving allegations of sexual assault during a 2016 ride.

In a three-week bellwether trial, the plaintiff, who claims she was sexually assaulted in an Uber while traveling home from college for the holidays, argued the rideshare company has a legal obligation to protect its passengers from known dangers, reports Law360.

The jury deliberated for about 17 hours over three days before reaching its decision. The panel of three women and nine men found Uber negligent but concluded the company’s negligence was not a substantial factor in causing the plaintiff’s harm.

The plaintiff reportedly argued that, despite Uber’s duty of care as a “common carrier,” the company failed and continues to fail to implement needed safety measures and underreported incidents of sexual assault and sexual misconduct by drivers.

“How do you punish and make Uber do what it doesn’t want to do?” plaintiff lawyer John Taylor of Taylor & Ring told the jury, as reported by Law360. “They won’t take the most commonsense approach to reduce the risk… They won’t even tell you what that risk is.”

During closing arguments, Taylor told jurors that Uber could have implemented measures, such as mandatory dash cameras, to deter assaults but instead chose to prioritize profits over passenger safety.

Uber says it has complied with regulatory standards

Uber argued it had several safety tools available at the time of the alleged incident, including the ability to share the ride route with another person in real time, rate the driver and anonymize the passenger’s phone number so a driver cannot see it, reports Law360.

Furthermore, the rideshare company reportedly argued that the aforementioned safety tools were not common at the time of the alleged incident, and that it has complied with regulatory standards.

“The law doesn’t require us to do what’s not possible,” Uber lawyer Allison Brown of Kirkland & Ellis LLP told the jury, as reported by Law360. “We cannot guarantee that nothing bad is ever going to happen.”

The plaintiff claims Uber is guilty of general negligence, common carrier negligence, negligence by misfeasance and negligence by nonfeasance. She is reportedly seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

The bellwether trial is the first in coordinated proceedings involving hundreds of individuals who are bringing claims against Uber and its subsidiary Raiser LLC, reports Law360.

In July, a federal judge partially granted Uber’s motion to dismiss claims in a bellwether group of lawsuits arguing the rideshare company failed to protect riders from sexual assault.

Were you sexually assaulted by an Uber or Lyft driver? You may qualify for a free and confidential case review.

The plaintiff is represented by John C. Taylor and Natalie L. Weatherford of Taylor & Ring, and William A. Levin, Laurel L. Simes, David M. Grimes and Samira J. Bokaie of Levin Simes LLP.

The Uber sexual assault cases are In re: Uber Rideshare Cases., Case No. CJC-21-005188, and Jane Doe LSA 78 v. Uber Tech. Inc., et al., Case No. CGC-21-592427, both in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Francisco.